“Could they repossess my husband?” another woman asked. “He ran off with my mother. They took the kids, the station wagon and the cat. And I really miss that cat.”

Jill hesitated a moment. I might have been wrong, but I thought I detected the slight crease of a frown furrowing her brow. But just as quickly as it appeared, she turned it upside down and the engaging smile was back in place.

“Just think of the peace and quiet around the house,” she said, “and how much you’ll save on cat food!”

She was irrepressible. The small group that had gathered around her check stand broke into smiles, laughter and applause.

“All right,” I said, “I surrender! You’re the most optimistic person I’ve ever met. But you’ve got to tell me how you do it. I mean, life can be pretty rough. How do you stay so ‘up’?”

“By refusing to let myself get down,” she said. “It’s like that law of physics, you know? ‘For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ Only my law of happiness is even simpler: ‘For every sad there is a glad.’ I just look for it. And usually I find it.”

Yeah, I know. Simplistic. Naïve. Pollyanna-ish. But it seems to work for Jill.